


One little family (kind of)

by Anonymous



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Baby Skye, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Kid Fic, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Multi, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parent Melinda May, Parent Phil Coulson, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, philindaisy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:21:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 19,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24529795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: After the Ghost Rider plot of season 4, Daisy has a strained relationship with the rest of the team. On a mission gone wrong, both her body and her mind are reverted to a twelve year old Skye in need of some parents (Yes- it's a common trope, oh well).Melinda and Phil already see Older Daisy as their daughter- now they have to step into the role of parents for a much younger and still very feisty Daisy. Enter the philindaisy fluff fest.Also- never ever ever trust Hunter to babysit.<3
Relationships: Agent Davis (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.) & Agent Piper, Alphonso "Mack" Mackenzie/Yo Yo Rodriguez, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons, Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May
Comments: 208
Kudos: 482
Collections: Anonymous





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for clicking and reading! Comments and kudos very appreciated. <3
> 
> [AU: Philinda is married because I can't stand slow burn]

Daisy breathed in deep as she walked carefully down the cold, dark hallway, reacting aggressively at every movement she heard. She stepped over fallen ceiling tiles and wires and ducked under a door halfway off its hinge to enter a large lab void of people with a single flickering light.

“I don’t see anybody on level 4,” she reported. 

_ “Level 2 is clear,” _ May relayed on comms. 

_ “Level 1 is clear too,” _ Piper added.

_ “Level 3 is also clear,” _ said Mack.

“I don’t think we’ll find much,” Daisy sighed as she picked up a broken laptop and inspected it with her flashlight. _ “It’s an old centipede lab,” _ May said.  _ “There were rumors of human experimentation. There may be prisoners here.” _

“This place looks like it hasn’t been touched since Raina started the project,” Daisy pointed out. “If there were prisoners, they’ve all gotta be dead.” She leaned down to check under a sideways desk for anything interesting.

May responded with something, but Daisy didn’t hear her; her attention was diverted as a person dressed all in black with a gas mask on their face dropped down from a rafter in the ceiling. Before a startled Daisy could quake them, they released a small metal ball and tossed it onto the ground. Daisy’s eyes widened as she realised it was releasing some sort of gas. She quaked it further from her and started to move away as the person slipped out of another exit from the lab, but quickly felt fatigued and sluggish as she collapsed to the floor and everything went dark.

…

“Daisy?” Melinda repeated into the comms. The woman hadn’t said anything for a couple of minutes, and she was starting to get a sinking feeling in her gut. “I’m going to check on her on the fourth floor,” She told Piper. The agent nodded. “I’ll keep clearing this area.”

Melinda climbed up the nearest dirty stairwell to the large hallways where Daisy’d been last. She circled the floor cautiously and alert, before finding double doors halfway off their hinges. She pushed one aside with a loud creak and found herself in a destroyed lab, filled with over turned furniture, peeling walls and puddles and rats- and to her horror, a young, small girl face first on the floor. To Melinda’s relief, she was still breathing little shaky breaths.

“I’ve found somebody. They’re unconscious,” she reported to the rest of the team quietly. “Keep looking for prisoners.” Melinda walked slowly towards the girl and knelt down to turn her over. She slumped over onto her back, revealing a face covered in bruises and a deep cut along her jawline. Her face was gaunt, as if she hadn’t slept for days, but it looked familiar. Oddly familiar.

“Hey, kid?” She asked, shaking her shoulder. The girl groaned and shifted. “We’re going to get you out of here, okay?”

The child mumbled something, then blinked bleary eyes open at her, then widened them almost immediately. She scrambled up on shaky legs, then backed up from Melinda, bumping against a desk and recoiling from the contact. Melinda held her hands out in a placating gesture as the terrified girl stared at her, trembling. “Where-” she licked her lips. “Where am I? Who are you?”

Melinda took a step closer but was rewarded by the girl backing up another few feet. “I’m Melinda May. You’re in a lab, we’re not sure why you’re here. What’s your name?”

The girl narrowed her eyes at the older woman suspiciously, then muttered. “Skye.”

Melinda’s blood ran cold. There was no way- And yet, her face and short brown hair- she could pass for a younger Daisy. “Do- do you have a last name?”

The girl shifted her weight back and forth without answering.

“I’m just trying to help.”

“That’s what they all say,” Skye answered doubtfully.

“Is-” she hesitated. “Is your real name-” she backtracked, “Another name people call you is Mary Sue Poots?”

Skye’s mouth dropped open. “ _ How do you know that? _ ” she whispered.

Melinda groaned internally. The girl was definitely Daisy. It looked like Daisy was now about eleven or twelve, with no memory of anything past her current age. She took a deep breath. “You’ve been… kidnapped. I need to take you back to a place where we can keep you safe,” she tried. Daisy shook her head and backed up even more, her eyes flitting around the room to look for exits.

“I promise, we’ll help you… patch you up…” she pleaded. Just then, Mack and Piper ran in with their guns up, causing Daisy to scream and back up so fast she tripped over her food to the floor, where she scrambled away from the three of them and curled into a ball. Melinda motioned for then to conceal their weapons. “It’s Daisy,” she mouthed. They stared at her, then at the whimpering 12 year old huddled against the wall.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Mack grunted quietly. May motioned for them to stay quiet and call the quinjet back for extraction, then slowly approached Daisy. “Sorry about them. They’re just trying to protect you, okay?” She told the girl quietly. Daisy’s eyes peeked out from her arms covering her face. “Are you… hungry?” She tried desperately. Daisy shook her head, but kept her eyes out in the open.

“What can I do to help you trust me?” She asked carefully, refraining from stepping any closer. Daisy shrugged, then asked, her voice muffled by her skinny arms, “Why does it feel like I know you?”

Melinda blinked in surprise, then turned back to the others for help, who- great- looked lost. She faced Daisy again, then crouched to her level on the floor, remembering what Andrew had said all those years ago before Bahrain. Trying to seem as open as possible, which made her very uncomfortable, she said, “It’s hard to explain, but I’ll tell you if you come with me? Some bad people are after you, and we’ll protect you.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie.

After a few agonizing moments of deliberation, Daisy slowly nodded, to May’s relief, and got back up, wiping her eyes of tears that had yet to fall. “If you even  _ touch _ me, I can bite,” she warned, but it was weak and terrified and came from a place with no other defense. “Understood,” Melinda answered solemnly.

Daisy waited for the three agents to file out before following, evidently not wanting anybody behind her back. She flinched at every noise they made to move aside debris to leave the building. 

On the ground floor, they left the building to find a quinjet waiting for them with Coulson and Jemma waiting in the cargo, gaping at little Daisy. Melinda suppressed a not-well-timed grin at his reaction; he was so bad at covering up emotions, especially when it came to Daisy.

They walked up the quinjet together, Mack muttering that he needed a beer, or three, and Daisy hesitating before stepping onto the cargo ramp. She stopped and stared at Phil, then turned to Melinda, bewildered and worried and accusing at the same time. “He looks familiar too.” 

She raised her eyebrows. “Promise, we’ll explain.” Daisy eyed her doubtfully. “I need to get the plane in the air,” she whispered to a baffled Phil. “Can you stay with her for ten minutes while I get out of here?” She asked Daisy. The young girl shrugged uncertainly, then sat down warily in one of the seats in the center of the room.

Melinda made her way to the cockpit, suppressing panic and worry that they wouldn’t be able to return back her Daisy.

...

Phil finally got the younger Daisy to strap herself in after numerous protests; the girl obviously didn’t want to be restrained in the unknown situation. She finally buckled herself to the seat with a well placed “Mother _ fucker _ .” Even though she seemed terrified, understandably, she had no qualms about sassing back and cussing him out. She hadn’t done so to Melinda yet, which was probably not saying a good thing about him.

He sat down next to her, noting all of the other agents sending strange looks their way. As the plane rumbled and took off, Daisy’s eyes widened. “Holy shit,” she whispered. He looked at her, knowing some of her past. “Never ridden on a plane before?” he asked, knowing the answer already. Daisy’s first time on a plane had been on the Bus. 

She curled in on herself at the question. “No,” she mumbled, looking embarrassed. 

“My first time on a plane was when I was 15,” he told her honestly. She looked up at that. “I was a nervous wreck. I made the flight attendant review the safety rules ten times.” She giggled just a little at that, though it sounded more like a hiccup.

He stood up once they were smooth in the air, making the risky decision to override May and take the girl to the cockpit. It was her first time on a plane; she deserved the best seat in the house to look outside. “C’mon,” he said to her. She shot him a confused look but unbuckled herself and stood up to follow him. He led her to the cockpit, sensing May’s exasperation before hearing it. “What’s she doing here, Phil?”

“She’s never flown before. Thought I’d send her here to look outside.”

Without turning around, Melinda nodded, and Phil motioned to a cautious Daisy that it was okay for her to sit in the co-pilot seat. As she did, she began to bounce on it slightly, her hands tucked under her thighs as a smile grew on her face. “The clouds are so… fluffy,” she said in awe, staring out the large front window at the blue sky. “I just want to sit on them.”

“That why you named yourself Skye?” Melinda asked. Daisy spared a glance toward the older woman. “I guess,” she answered with a hesitant shrug. “It was better than Mary Sue… How did you know that anyway?”

“We’ll explain when we land. We have a lab that’ll make things more clear.” Daisy cringed visibly. “With needles?” she asked, already curling in on herself. 

“Nope. It’ll just help show you why you think you know us and… other things.” he finished lamely. Daisy narrowed her eyes at him but nodded. “Okay. After all this, are you sending me back?” she asked.

He and Melinda exchanged glances. “Back to where?” He asked, confused.

“Saint Agnes and Mother Jonathan?” She made a ‘ _ duh _ ’ face. “It’s where I was kidnapped from, it's the last place I remember.”

‘Oh,’ he mouthed thoughtfully. “You-” he took a chance, based off of the bits and pieces Daisy had told him over the years about her past. “You don’t like it there, right?”

She eyed him warily, then shook her head with a melancholy frown. “They don’t like me at all. They always think the bruises are my fault. And my social worker, Miss Jaimie, doesn’t care whether I find a good home or not. That’s why I have-” she clamped her mouth shut.

_ Have what? Have separation anxiety? Have trouble finding parents? Have compassion to people that got dealt the bad cards in life? _

“Okay,” he responded, smoothing over her cut off mid sentence, which she relaxed slightly at. “Where we’re going; I recommend you stay there for a while instead of returning to Saint Agnes. We have, uh, nice people, and lots of food.” Her face brightened at that, then just as quickly soured. She turned away from him and Melinda to watch the clouds roll by. 

“Trust me, you won’t want me for long,” she answered bitterly. His heart cracked at her assumption, hearing how her thoughts had come from experience; twelve years of being returned over and over again so that Cal wouldn’t be able to find her. She didn’t know that- she thought her foster homes were just jerks.

“I have a feeling we will,” Melinda replied softly, turning on autopilot and settling in her seat. They spent the remainder of the flight in a comfortable silence; Daisy slowly growing a little smile that both senior agents took note of happily.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Whatever you're doing, be safe, supportive, and speak your mind! Positively!
> 
> <3

Daisy returning caused absolute chaos. The lab immediately attempted to assault the poor girl with tests and swabs, barely being held back by Simmons and her high ranked SADIST position. Something like this was unheard of- a complete mind and body reversion to the past. A complete scientific revolutionary breakthrough.

After pulling a privacy curtain around one of the lab beds, Daisy crossed her arms, evidently trying to cover her fear. “So? You promised you’d explain. Without needles.” She demanded.

“Of course, right…” Jemma said, but didn’t move from her position of gaping at the girl, evidently making her uncomfortable. “Jemma,” Phil prodded gently. She jerked away from staring at the young Daisy. “Right, right. Well,” She pulled up some charts on her tablet and handed it to a confused Daisy, who inspected the screen. “This is gibberish,” she remarked with an unimpressed raised eyebrow.

“Well, then!” Jemma smiled tightly and briskly retrieved her beloved tablet. “We’re not sure exactly what happened to you, whether you were forced to take something or injected or it was some sort of gas- but Daisy,” she pulled up a picture of twenty four year old Daisy, a sweet one, taken candid by Fitz yesterday as she was humming while doing tai chi alone. Her eyes were closed and the closest thing to a smile they’d seen in months was painted on her face. “This is you yesterday.”

Daisy raised an eyebrow, then laughed. “Um- okay, sure.” she giggled, though her laughter seemed to be woven with something sad and lonely.

“You wondered why you knew and trusted us? It’s because we knew each other well before something caused both your mind and body to rewind back to- how old are you?”

“Yesterday was my 12th birthday.”

“-to the age of twelve.”

“Wait- yesterday was July second. Her twenty fifth birthday was yesterday,” Fitz realized. “I forgot. Of course she was stiff with me this morning,” he muttered. Jemma gasped, then lightly smacked her forehead. They’d both been so busy… May shook her head. “It’s okay. And if she was stiff with you, it wasn’t because of you forgetting; she isn’t petty like that.” 

“Hey- hello? _Guys_?” Daisy waved frantically from her spot on the hospital cot. “So, what- you’re saying I’m actually twenty fucking five?”

“And have been reverted to the age of twelve, yes,” Jemma confirmed. 

Daisy gaped at her. “Why should I believe you?”

“That’s how we knew your name. Well, the one given to you by the nuns. We know your real name, too.” Phil told her gently. The young girl’s head snapped to meet his eyes.

“What is it?” she asked hesitantly. This was something she’d wanted to know for the whole twelve years of her life.

“Daisy Johnson,” he replied easily. The girl mouthed the words, sounding it out with a smile. “So, what- I found my parents? Can I meet them?” She asked eagerly. The others looked at each other, then silently elected May to tell her.

“Sorry, Daisy- or Skye, whatever you want to be called. They’re not around anymore.” Daisy’s face crumpled, and she wiped at her eyes with her wrists. “I- I should’ve known. Sorry for being a cry baby. I just actually believed that maybe I’d found my family-” she hiccuped.

“You did,” Phil interjected before the girl could spiral. “Just wasn’t biological. You’ve got a whole team of people who love you, including us,” he gestured. Daisy gave him a watery smile. “That’s cool. So what- ‘m I a badass spy like her?” she asked, pointing a tentative finger at May.

“Sure,” Melinda agreed readily. Daisy smiled again, this time a little brighter. This girl switched moods like Riverdale switched plotlines.

“I’ll be taking a team to the spot where you were reverted to hopefully find samples of whatever was used on you, so we can reverse it. Don’t worry; you won’t be like this forever,” Jemma said.

Daisy nodded, looking a little overwhelmed. “I know you wanted to take some physical tests, Jemma, but I’m going to take her to her bunk. This is a lot,” Phil told her quietly. Simmons nodded, and left after giving Daisy a reassuring squeeze. Fitz patted her comfortingly on the shoulder before following his girlfriend.

Daisy hopped off the cot, still looking a little dazed. “You okay?” Phil questioned. She nodded, and smiled a little. “It’s just… a lot, yunno.” He nodded sympathetically in response. “I can take you to your bunk.” 

“Okay, thanks.”

He turned to Melinda in question. She shook her head with a sigh. “I’ve got STRIKE training to attend, but I’ll help with whatever she needs in a couple of hours,” she said reluctantly, not wanting to leave the girl, even though there was nobody on earth she’d trust her more with than Phil. 

“I’ve got her,” he said, pecking his wife on the lips, and she smiled and nodded once and headed off towards the gym.

“Looks like it’s you and me, kiddo,” he told Daisy, leading her through the hallways. The girl narrowed her eyes. “It’s strange. In Saint Agnes, one of the number one rules is not to be left alone with a guy,” she mused. “But I trust you, even though it feels like I’ve never met you.”

He tried not to let show the sorrow he felt that little girls had to make personal rules to stay away from men in foster homes that are supposed to be plain nurturing and caring. Again he briefly let his mind wonder what would’ve happened if he’d been able to find Daisy when she was younger, shield her from the horrors in her past.

“We were really close before you were reverted,” he explained, leaving out how their relationship had been distant and strained lately since she’d returned from her six month long vigilante run.

“Like friends?”

“Like family,” he responded, earning a small smile from the girl, who mouthed ‘ _family_ ’. It seemed like she wasn’t too used to the word.

They arrived in front of her door, where he used his handprint to unlock the door. When she’d first arrived, they’d never told her, but he and May added their handprints to her bunk’s security system in case something went wrong and she’d hurt herself, something she’d seemed to be at high risk of since dealing with Lincoln. They hadn’t needed to use it yet.

She stepped inside, her mouth falling open at the inside of the room. He stood out in the hallway in case she needed something. She peeked her head outside. “You coming?” She asked. He shook his head. “I’m- it’s your room,” he explained. She shrugged. “You have my permission to come in, then. Don’t worry, she’s- _I’m_ not a slob, apparently. I need to reach shit on higher shelves, and I’m short. C’mon.” She gave him no room for argument as she grabbed his wrist and tugged him into the room.

He hadn’t been in her room since he’d walked in one day after Lincoln’s death to find it empty, her and her belongings gone.

This wasn’t what he’d expected.

Daisy’d refused one of the larger bunks reserved for senior agents Mace had offered her to get on her good side, claiming she was fine on the lower floors with everybody else. Phil had suspected it was more because of distance from the rest of them. She still kept interactions with other agents and their original team to simply a necessary and formal level. She’d been reclusive, and avoided any of the fun things any of the agents invited her to, and it seemed like she’d lost a passion for most everything.

The inside of her bunk did not reflect that.

The entire room was based off of white, lavender, and pastel green and brown. One wall above her desk was a gallery of pictures of her and the rest of the team, all in identical minimalistic white frames. May didn’t like to take pictures, but Daisy had somehow managed to find at least ten of herself and the older woman; candid shots of them training or eating together. 

She had an open shelf she’d screwed to the wall that held a water boiler and neatly stacked boxes of tea, some that looked like Melinda’s favorites, which made him think happily of May’s positive influence on the young woman. Daisy didn’t seem to have forgotten that. An identical shelf below it held three simple baskets filled with various medical supplies. On her desk lay the laptop he’d given her for her birthday a couple of years ago; the first time she’d celebrated it on July second. A stack of lavender sticky notes sat covered in doodles of little stick figures and notes she needed to remember. A weight loss chart lay next to the computer, and a cup with essential writing utensils and supplies stood on the corner of the desk with a simple white lamp and nothing else.

Fairy lights were hung on every corner; trailing around the place where the brick walls met the ceiling and then dropping to trace the frame of her bed, then winding around some candles and an alarm clock on her night stand to plug into the wall. Small succulents surrounded the room, but not too much to make it look like a forest. It just looked… fresh and airy. 

As Phil stood taking it all in, he turned to Daisy, who was gaping at the well decorated room. “There’s so much _stuff_. I’ve never dreamed…” she trailed off, picking up a picture of her, May and himself when they’d had an undercover op to go to a festival posed as a family, back when she’d still been Skye. They were smiling, and Daisy was laughing at something the cameraman had said. She looked so… happy.

Daisy trailed her face in the picture with a finger in awe. She turned abruptly to him. “Are you two, like, my parents?”

He stared at her. “Uh-”

She flushed and put the picture back on the wall. “N- nevermind, I- I was just kidding,” she said hastily, already expecting rejection.

“Kind of,” he responded quickly. “We met when you were twenty one, so you didn’t outright need parents anymore. But… you’re like a daughter to me, and Melinda feels the same way, though she doesn’t always show it.” he admitted.

“Oh.” she gave him a little shy smile that he returned, then continued perusing the room. She opened the small closet, then wrinkled her nose at how not one article of clothing had a hue to it. It was mostly a few black leather jackets, shirts, and jeans, and another mission suit hanging there as well. She must’ve had two because the one she was wearing earlier that day was replaced by blue running shorts and a large pale pink shirt a few sizes too big on the twelve year old.

“I hate color, don’t I,” Daisy remarked, opening a drawer. “Oh- look, at least I sleep in something other than, like, goth.” She held up a stack of shirts that were all pastel and mainly old t-shirts. He felt uncomfortable seeing something so private but snorted when he recognized one of the shirts as an old grey shirt with captain america’s shield fading away on it. It had disappeared one night when he was doing laundry; now he knew the culprit.

She felt the fabric between her fingers for a moment, marveling at how soft it was compared to her limited closet in Saint Agnes that was mostly hand me downs from girls that had found families. “I don’t fit into any of this stuff,” she said, putting the clothes carefully back in the drawer and shutting it.

“I’ll send some agents out on a supply run,” he suggested. “It’s getting late, but maybe they can take you tomorrow.”

“Thanks, AC,” she said absently. He stared at her, and she turned to him. “What? You don’t like it? Miss May said you were Agent Coulson. AC.”

“Uh- yeah. That’s what you called me- before this,” he gestured at her smaller body. 

“Oh. Wacky.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> abrupt ending *shrug*


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aw. Somebody can't sleep...

Daisy pointed up at a box above the closet, alone on a slim shelf. “Can you grab that for me?” Phil retrieved the heavy box easily and handed it to her. She sat down on a white rug and gestured for him to join her, which he did so reluctantly. The box looked partially hidden for a reason; this felt private. But young Daisy wasn’t taking no for an answer.

“I keep my most precious things in a little bag under my bed at Agnes. I’m thinking this box is the equivalent for my older self,” she explained.

She lifted the blue lid off the top and started sifting through the organized insides. “Oh, cool,” she picked up an old fashioned icer.

“I think that’s the first one she- _you_ were ever given,” he guessed. “It’s an old style that Fitz discontinued.”

Daisy set the gun back down and pulled out a blue long sleeved shirt, sending him a questioning look. He shrugged, though it looked a lot like a shirt Lincoln had loved to wear. She folded it back up carefully.

“Ooh,” she pulled out a copy of Ulysses, a kind of gag gift he’d given her for christmas one year; after he’d repeatedly planned on reading it but been too busy and complained verbally, and she’d teased that she could’ve found time to read it. The copy, to his delight, was well worn and full of lavender sticky notes and tags with doodles and writing all over them, stretching to the end of the book, almost doubling its thickness. She’d actually read it. 

“That’s an old gift from me. I didn’t think you’d ever read it or keep it,” he told her. She smiled at him. “If it’s in here, it means a lot to her- me. Old me. Not just anything makes it into the Special Bag- or Box, in this case.” He returned her smile happily.

She pulled out a set of gold earrings next, but he had no idea what they were or their significance. Most of the things in the box ended up not being too familiar, but he could guess their origin. An old, falling apart blue scrunchie near the bottom made Daisy smile. “I still have it,” she said wondrously. “I’ve had this since I was really young. One of my foster sisters gave it to me; it’s the only thing I own that’ll tie my hair back.”

His phone chimed abruptly. Mack needed his help with a mission report. “Hey, I have to go,” he told Daisy apologetically, genuinely enjoying spending time with her young self. She twisted her lips. “You’re coming back, though, right?” She asked hesitantly.

“Tomorrow morning?”

She nodded. “Promise?”

“Promise. If you need help with anything, ask Melinda. She’ll be stopping by in thirty minutes. I recommend washing up right now, the lab was really dirty,” he told her, noting how her face and clothes still looked dusty and pasty. She nodded. “Where are the showers?”

“Down the hall and to the left.” He made to leave, then hesitated. “Will you be okay going by yourself? I can get Jemma to help-”

“I’m _ twelve _ , not  _ five _ ,” Daisy rolled her eyes. “Besides, we have to wash up like this at Agnes. I know what to do, thanks.”

“Right, sorry. Bye.” He left after she waved, feeling distinctly uncomfortable. He had close to no idea how to interact with children, and felt nervous leaving her alone in a base full of agents, even though he trusted most of them.

…

After STRIKE training, Melinda headed down to the lower levels where the junior agents’ bunks were located. She knocked on Daisy’s door, knowing she could enter if she wanted but wanting to give the girl some privacy.

“Come in,” she called out, and the door’s lock turned green. She slid it open, taking in the neatness and brightness of the room in stride, though noting to talk about it to Phil later.

Daisy was on her bed on her laptop, typing away. She was much cleaner than she’d been before, and was wearing a loose black shirt that belonged to her older self but the same shorts she’d worn before.

“Hey,” Melinda said, leaning on the wall. 

“Hey. This is _crazy_ \- this laptop has to cost tens of thousands of dollars! _Nasa_ has older laptops than this!”

“It’s actually an older model for our time. It’s not cheap, but it’s definitely less than ten thousand. More like two thousand.”

Daisy whistled. “Shit, that’s crazy.”

“Language,” Melinda corrected. Seeing Daisy’s face, she smirked.

“ _ Language _ ?  _ Seriously _ ?”

“You’re twelve. You shouldn’t be cussing like that.” 

Daisy shrugged. “Okay, I’m _technically_ twenty five, and besides, I never had parents to teach me not to.”

May sighed. “How are you? I know this is a lot.” Daisy made a  _ ‘well, that’s life _ ’ face. “I have, like, this inner feeling that I know and trust you, but no memory at all. So it makes sense, in a wacky way.”

Melinda nodded. “Do you need anything? I’m not sure if leaving you alone in here on base is such a good idea.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Ugh. I’ll be fine. You and AC both worry too much. I hope you’re not so much of a mother hen with old me.” She bit her lip. “I-  _ should _ be fine. But- uh, where’s your room? If I need something.”

May handed her the tablet she’d been holding. “Right. This is yours while you’re stuck young. It’s locked to a map of the base. The red areas are either too dangerous or classified, and here you can search for any person you’re looking for, and our lanyards are tracked on here. Here,” she flagged a larger room in the senior bunk sector, “Is Phil’s and my room.” Daisy smirked. “You two share a  _ room _ ?”

“I mean, we’re married.” She held up her hand with her plain ring nestled in between her fingers, matching Phil's.

Daisy’s teasing smirk grew into a genuine smile. “Really? Cool, that’s cool.”

“Come get us if you need anything at all, even if it’s two in the morning.”

Daisy nodded her thanks.

“You good for the night?”

“Yup. Thanks, May.”

Melinda studied the girl, who was exploring the security feeds on the tablet, then left, sliding the door closed behind her.

…

Phil held Melinda in his arms, tangled in the sheets. She curled her head into his chest and tucked it under his chin, breathing softly.

“We'll fix her, right?” she asked quietly, needing reassurance from him. He sighed, his chest falling deeply under her touch. “FitzSimmons will figure it out. They’re leading a team to pick up evidence tomorrow morning.”

May shifted to look up at him, his face shielded in the darkness of their bedroom. “What about us?”

“We’ll be with Daisy. She’s meeting with Mace, and then getting a full physical tomorrow.”

“Why Mace?”

He scoffed. “His most ‘valuable’ inhuman ‘asset’ is young now. He’ll probably try to see if he can still use her. According to Mack, he was pretty pissed about the situation and how she can’t attend press conferences with him. She’s not just a  _ publicity ploy _ ,” he huffed angrily.

Before she got a chance to respond in agreement, a tentative knock sounded on the door. Melinda frowned, and begrudgingly pried herself out of Phil’s arms. “It’s probably Daisy.”

“Why?” he whispered as she pulled on a shirt and sweatpants and threw him his own. “Is she okay?” he asked as he got dressed.

“I don’t know. Hold on, Phil,” she told him, opening the door to reveal a nervous Daisy hugging a pillow. 

“Everything okay?” she asked the young girl. Daisy bit her lip and shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “Sorry for bothering you, but you said I could… I don’t- know what to do…” she trailed off and looked at her feet, clearly embarrassed.

“Come in,” she said gently. “I’ll make you some tea; it always helps me.” Daisy looked up, surprised. Melinda felt a pang in her chest when she realized the poor girl had expected rejection.

Clutching her pillow, Daisy shuffled into the apartment, still looking nervous. Phil had already guessed what had happened and was boiling water quietly. He sent Daisy a comforting smile when she entered the kitchen behind Melinda. She gave him a shy smile back.

Melinda motioned for her to sit on one of the stools surrounding the island. Older Daisy had done this exact thing so many times; nightmares about Lincoln and Hive and her parents still plaguing her. After she’d returned with Robbie, the nightly visits had tentatively continued though they never spoke a word; Daisy would sit silently next to Melinda, finish a cup of tea, then retreat back to her room, avoiding eye contact the entire time.

Daisy hopped up onto a stool, wriggling into place with her pillow still suffocated in her arms. Her feet dangled a few inches off of the ground.

They left the lights off, but Melinda lit a candle so that it wasn’t pure black in the kitchen. She handed Phil her box of green tea and a box of mint tea that older Daisy had always gravitated to. He steeped the bags into two mugs, then gave her a quick kiss and retreated to their bedroom to clean their sheets. They both knew that while he was the more tactile of the two, Melinda always did better with the late night talks and silence. She added ice to Daisy’s mug, figuring she’d need a more warm than hot temperature.

“Do you… have sugar?” Daisy asked quietly. May nodded and handed her a box of sugar cubes along with her mug. The cubes were all Phil; he couldn’t handle the bitterness of his coffee, to her amusement. Daisy popped one straight in her mouth and then two more into her tea, to Melinda’s disgusted amusement. She took a seat next to the young girl, wrapping her fingers around her favorite mug and blowing lightly on the surface of the tea, causing it to ripple. Daisy crunched on her sugar cube next to her, seeming already more relaxed.

“Do you want to talk about it?” She asked gently. Daisy shrugged. “Nightmare.”

Melinda could guess what she’d been plagued with in her dreams. Daisy had told her multiple times about the abusive homes she’d been in with vague details.

“I have nightmares too,” she replied quietly. Daisy looked at her, surprised. “You? But you’re, like, a badass-”

“-Language-”

“-spy. What are  _ you _ afraid of?”

May took a sip of her tea, fighting off a yawn. “Everybody’s scared of something.”

Daisy shook her head. “Nuh-uh. If you’re scared, that means that I’m scared when I’m older, and I always thought it would go away when I grew up.”

“If it makes you feel better, everybody being scared results in everybody staying up late and helping each other. You’re not in this alone. Sometimes… your older self forgets that.”

“Oh.” Daisy took a sip from her tea and relaxed visibly. “This makes me really happy and warm inside. Is it another one of those feelings-that-come-from-memories-I-forgot?”

Melinda smiled. “Probably. We do this kind of thing a lot, when you can’t sleep. It makes you feel better.”

“Sorry,” Daisy mumbled. May shook her head. “Don’t be. I don’t mind. Neither does Phil.”

After another 15 minutes, Daisy had finished her tea and an additional five or so sugar cubes, resulting in Melinda having to put them away out of her reach. She grabbed the young girl’s mug and put it in the sink with her own, throwing away the tea bags. 

“So, do I…” Daisy flushed. “Do I go back or…” she trailed off, but Melinda could guess what she wanted. “Do you want to sleep in our bed tonight?” she asked.

Daisy nodded, then hesitated. “If that’s not weird or uncomfortable for you or AC… if you’re okay, Idon’twannaintrude-” she rambled, but May held up a hand to silence her. “Come on.” 

She blew out the candle and moved to her bedroom where Phil was already asleep. She climbed in bed then lifted the covers like a door as an invitation. Daisy hesitated for a brief second before giving in and climbing under the sheets with her pillow under her head, facing away from May. The older woman put a hand on her shoulder, asking a silent question, and Daisy backed up with a resounding ‘ _ yes _ ’ so that she was practically flush with Melinda, who curled a protective arm around the girl. Daisy snuggled a little deeper into her embrace, then closed her eyes.

She breathed quietly, and Melinda contentedly listened to the girl’s heartbeat as she fell asleep.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I love just subtly pushing in angst. It's fun. And torturous (:<
> 
> Anyway. I'm very hungry. After posting this chapter I'm going to go eat a banana. I gotta fuel up for all of the angst I have planned...
> 
> <3

The next morning, Melinda blinked awake at five. It was automatic for her now; for years she hadn’t needed an alarm clock. She was still holding Daisy, who had these adorable little snores that came from her throat every few seconds.

Laying there with Daisy, May could almost see a life where she’d taken Daisy away from Saint Agnes when she was a baby; had protected her from all of the horrors and given her a loving family; a place in the world. She brushed a strand of hair out of the girl’s face.

After a few minutes, she gingerly tried to move her arm out from underneath Daisy’s torso without waking her up, but the movement caused her to shift and mumble something. Melinda freezed as Daisy settled. She had work to do, and Tai Chi, so she huffed and gently pulled herself out from underneath the girl.

Daisy startled awake. “Wha- where-” she sat up on her elbows and relaxed when she saw Melinda. “Sorry,” she murmured, her cheeks burning.

“You slept okay?” May whispered as she moved off of the bed. Daisy nodded, and smiled. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that.” She rubbed her eyes and blinked wide to force herself awake.

“Maybe not, but I wanted to.” May opened a dresser and pulled out a black t-shirt and jeans, a go to outfit not unlike what the older Daisy had adopted.

“Where are you going?” Daisy asked her.

“I do… yoga, every morning. Do you want to join me?”

Daisy shrugged. “Sure.” She removed herself from the covers. “What time is it?” she yawned widely.

“Five.”

“ _ Holy shi _ -” Melinda shot her a glare, and the girl clamped her mouth shut. “Why would you torture yourself like that?” she whispered loudly.

Melinda smirked. “You wake up at five too.” Daisy frowned, making Melinda smile at her outrage. “I’m going to change really quickly. Are you okay out here?”

Daisy nodded, and May slipped inside of the restroom to do her morning routine. Daisy wandered into the kitchen, feeling hungry. She grabbed a banana and ate the entire thing in less than three bites, feeling famished. She tossed the peel into the trash, then explored the sitting area. A couple of pictures were on the coffee table, and she looked at them closely. It was AC and May, and another girl with her same chocolate hair and partially asian features, looking like the picture Jemma had shown her of herself. She guessed that it was her older self.

“Not bad,” she commented on her appearance. “Glad the ugly duckling stage is temporary,” she muttered, smiling at a picture of the three of them plus the two scientists she’d seen earlier all in black super-spy suits, laughing as they set up for some kind of mission or something; loading guns- wait, no, icers, that’s what AC had called them. Non lethal. The picture had ‘bus kids <3’ written on it in swoopy letters; who knew what  _ that _ meant.

“Do you need to change?” Melinda asked as she entered the room pulling her hair back into a ponytail. Daisy shrugged. “AC said I could buy some clothes later today but right now I don’t have any. I’ll be fine.”

May grabbed a water bottle and tossed it to Daisy. “I usually do Tai Chi- it’s like yoga- in the gym upstairs. You coming?”

“Sure.” Daisy followed her out the door and up one of the elevators to a large training room filled with mats and dumbbells. To one side looked like a shooting range. There were a couple of night shift agents exercising. Melinda took Daisy to the side and pulled out two mats.

“So... this is like the tree pose stuff?” Daisy asked as she helped roll out the mats. Melinda smirked a little. “Not really. It’s about the breathing and getting your heart rate under control.”

“So… _no_ tree pose.”

“Just copy my movements.”

Daisy followed them as best she could, doing better than May expected. She gave the girl corrections periodically, and by the end Daisy was grinning. “That’s cool. It was like- I wasn’t thinking about anything but my breath; it was like meditation. That’s what meditation is, right? I wouldn’t know,” she blabbered. 

“What now?” she asked as they headed back to her bunk.

“Well, you’ll be meeting with the Director of SHIELD in a bit.”

“Why?”

“You were a valuable agent before. I’m guessing he still wants to send you in the field.”

Daisy stopped. “Wait, what? Like, fighting and stuff?”

“We won’t let that happen. For now, just answer all of his questions honestly.”

“Is he nice?”

Melinda opened the door to her apartment. “He’s a good person, but I wouldn’t call him nice.” Daisy followed her inside. “Do you trust him?”

“To do the right thing? Sure. To lead the organization? No.”

“What if you were director?” she asked.

Melinda chuckled. “I’m not one for leading others. I’m good at what I do, and that’s combat in the field.”

“Oh.”

Phil was already in the kitchen, perusing something on his laptop with a mug of coffee next to him. “Hey, Daisy. Or- Skye. Whatever you want to be called.”

Daisy thought for a moment, then responded, “Daisy. That’s my real name, so.”

Phil nodded and smiled. “Did you eat breakfast?”

“I ate a banana,” she shrugged.

“I can make eggs, if you want,” he suggested.

“I don’t want to bother you…”

“I’ll take some, Phil. And then you can make extra for Daisy,” Melinda interjected, figuring Daisy wouldn’t feel as bothersome if he was making them already. She was right; Daisy looked relieved. 

Phil nodded, catching on, and stood up to grab the eggs from the fridge. “Today you’ll be meeting with Director Mace and getting a physical check up from Jemma, but after that you can go shopping for clothes on the supply run. I think it’s Yoyo, Mack and Piper today.”

“You’re not coming?” Daisy asked as Melinda poured a cup of orange juice and handed it to her.

“Do you want one of us to?” he asked, grabbing a pan. She shrugged. “You don’t have to… but I just don’t know Yoyo or Piper at all.”

“They’re great people and good friends of yours. Mack was your partner.”

“He’s not anymore?” Daisy took a drink of orange juice.

Melinda and Phil exchanged glances. “No, he’s Phil’s now. You work better alone.”

“Oh, cool.” 

The kitchen filled with a warm aroma of scrambled eggs as Phil began to cook. Daisy looked on in interest. “Could you teach me one day?”

“What?”

“To make eggs.”

“Sure, if you want.”

Daisy smiled and finished off her orange juice. She drank the entire thing in less than a minute, Melinda noticed.

“So- can you give me a rundown of the people I know, and who they are and are with and stuff?” Daisy asked. 

Melinda looked at Phil, motioning for him to speak. “Sure. So, there’s us. We’re married. Senior agents; Melinda trains the STRIKE teams and goes on ops, and I help with tactics. Then there’s Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, the two scientists you met yesterday. Fitz is engineering and Jemma is bio-chem, and they’re together too. Yoyo, or Elena, is also a good friend of yours. She’s from Columbia, and she’s got powers. Superspeed.”

“Cool.”

“She’s dating Mack, who’s my partner and uses a shotgun-axe as his weapon. Piper is a new friend of yours; she trained under Melinda for a couple of years before becoming a full agent. She and Davis are partners, and argue a lot. I think that’s it?”

“And Robbie.” Melinda added.

“Right. A guy who got possessed by the devil. He visits sometimes.” Melinda decided not to mention how she'd noticed him leaving older Daisy's bunk early in the morning. Speaking of- she needed to inform Robbie of Daisy's predicament.

Daisy’s eyes widened. “The devil’s real?”

“Kind of? He’s more like an interdimensional being than the polar opposite of God.”

“And I thought Mother Jonathan was batshit crazy…” 

“ _ Language, _ ” both Phil and Melinda admonished at the same time, causing Daisy to groan. “She  _ was _ though!”

“Doesn’t matter. Don’t be crude,” Melinda chastised. Daisy frowned, but brightened when a plate of eggs was placed in front of her. She mumbled a thanks before shoveling the food into her mouth. “Hey, slow down, we don’t want you to choke,” Phil warned.

She flushed and slowed down significantly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine, just. Yeah.” 

Melinda fought the urge to smirk at Phil. He was slipping into the parental role easily but nervously, and so was she, she had to admit. Even though Daisy wasn’t hers, sometimes she wished the young woman was. Maybe taking care of her and being almost a mother while she was young wouldn’t hurt.

Daisy, though eating slower, finished her eggs quickly. “These are so fuc- freaking good, AC!” she groaned playfully. Melinda noticed Phil beaming.

“Secret ingredient?” He leaned on the island.

“Mmhm?”

“A little smooth salsa. Adds more flavor.”

Daisy nodded, impressed. “Yo, if you ever need a taste tester for any food you make, I’m available 24/7.”

Phil chuckled. “Sure, thanks. Yoyo and Mack also have that offer on the table too.” His and Melinda’s phone chimed at the exact same time- Mace was ready to talk to Daisy.

“You ready to chat with the director?”

“I guess.” Daisy hopped off the stool and followed the both of them out of the apartment and upstairs to the director’s office. "Let's do this."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Banana time!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Mace are going to have such an explosive relationship in this fic... it might be calm now but just knowing her younger self's growing sass and Mace being Mace shit will hit the fan at some point.
> 
> <3

As they walked, Daisy got more and more tense, unsure about this new director. She was getting more of those feelings she didn’t understand, but unlike AC and May, this was more negative and apprehensive. Without really thinking about it, she shot out her hand and clasped AC’s, who was tense for a split second before giving her a reassuring squeeze.

Melinda noticed the exchange and smiled internally. Phil was such a father, it was ridiculous.

They climbed up the stairs and reached the translucent glass double doors. “He wants to talk to you alone,” Coulson told Daisy gently. She made a face and dropped his hand. “We’ll be right outside,” he promised, feeling a little like he was sending his kid to the principal’s office.

Daisy nodded and pushed open the door with her shoulder to see a guy in a suit sitting on a desk in a spacious, airy office, facing away from her, looking out the window. Daisy almost scoffed. He looked like he was trying too hard to be dramatic and ominous.

“Hello?” She asked. He turned around and plastered on a smile. “Daisy! Come, sit down.”

She did as instructed, first sitting with her legs spread wide, then remembering Sister Margaret paddling her for ‘sitting like a boy’, so she crossed them. He offered her a water bottle but she refused it politely, having drunk a lot earlier.

“How are you?”

She shrugged. “Fine.”

“Good, that’s good.” he sat down in his chair and clasped his hands together on his desk. “Let’s go straight to the subject matter, then. Do you remember anything?”

She shook her head. “Feelings… but no memories,” she answered honestly. He frowned at that, but nodded. “What about your powers?”

She stared at him. “ _ Uh _ .” 

What powers? Like-  _ superpowers _ ?

Mace seemed to sense she had no idea what he was talking about so he sighed and leaned back in his rolly chair. “That’s not good. I don’t know if you know this, Daisy, but you are very important to the public. If this doesn’t get reversed soon, I’m not sure how my supporters will react to you disappearing so soon after being revealed as an agent.”

“Your supporters?”

“Yes.”

Daisy laughed. Genuinely laughed. He frowned. “What?”

“So, you only care about me turning back so that your public image is perfect? That’s low, dude.”

He blinked at her, then seemed to rewrite his thoughts as he wrung his hands together. “I mean, of course I care, we’re partners in the eyes of-”

“The public? You’re not helping your case, Mace- _ that rhymes _ \- Why would my older self ever help you?” she arched an eyebrow and sat back in her chair. She had been nervous, but now she could see right through him. He seemed cool and confident but really was a nervous wreck that cared about appearance rather than what he actually did.

“You were at SHIELD before I became director. You decided to stay and help out because of your team,” he answered honestly, fidgeting with his tie. Daisy rolled her eyes. “Wow. Who was the director before you?”

“Agent Coulson,” Mace answered, looking uncomfortable at the turn of the conversation. She gaped at him. “AC? Holy shit.” She shook her head, amused. “What happened? He get fired? Or?”

“He resigned after some… events last year.”

“Hm. I get the feeling he was a better director than you. I know for a fact he wouldn’t care nearly as much about image rather than saving people. You don’t even care that I’m stuck at the age of twelve!” She told him bluntly.

He stood up sharply and put his fist on his desk. Daisy guessed he was trying to seem intimidating but it was just more funny. He constantly looked like he was auditioning for a James Bond extra or something. “You can’t talk to me like that, agent!”

“Not your agent. Not right now, at least.” she reminded the older man.

Mace sighed and rubbed his face. “Since you’re of no use right now… just stay out of the way. And don’t talk to me like that again, understood?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“You’re dismissed.”

She smiled at him brightly and innocently, then left, skipping down the stairs, passing a confused May and Coulson at her sudden brightness.

…

At her private physical an hour later, Daisy started out fine. Even with the invasion of her privacy, she’d had to deal with checkups yearly at Saint Agnes, so she wasn’t too uncomfortable. She was already in a good mood from her morning.

But then Jemma chose to do an X-Ray, bringing Phil into the room.

“Nope.” Daisy answered bluntly. Jemma sighed, exasperated. “We need to, to see if your bone structure has changed exactly to your age. Why not? It’s not scary, I promise.”

“Why would it be scary?” she shot back crossly.

“Why don’t you want to do it, then?”

Daisy shrugged. She wasn’t going to tell her, not in a bajillion years

Jemma turned to Phil. “Maybe she’d listen better to you.”

“Doubtful,” he mumbled under his breath, but approached an increasingly on edge Daisy on the cot. “We won’t force you to do anything,” he told her gently. “But why don’t you tell us why?”

She eyed him suspiciously. “You promise you won’t make me?”

He nodded, then stuck up a pinky. “Promise?” She rolled her eyes but took his pinky and interlocked it with hers. “Promise.” She took a deep breath and swung her legs back and forth. “I got hurt… a lot. In some foster homes. I don’t want you to see what happened, it’ll just make you upset.”

Phil sighed heavily but nodded. He’d promised. “But… what if the X-Ray will help you go back to being twenty five, and a  _ superhero  _ again?” he nudged her, making her smile.

She twisted her lips thoughtfully. “Do you really think it’ll help?” she asked Jemma. The biologist nodded with a smile. “Definitely. If your bone structure is that of an adult, just smaller bones as a whole, it will narrow down what chemicals were used.”

Daisy narrowed her eyes at the young woman, then her shoulders sagged. “Fine. Whatever,” she relented. “On two conditions: Never mention what you see to me. I don’t wanna relive it. And two: Don’t change anything. Don’t look at me with those pitying looks. Treat me normally.”

As Jemma and AC nodded, she added, “Please,” feeling a little demanding to these people that were just trying to help her. “Okay! I’ll take you in for the scan,” Jemma said.

…

Daisy retreated to her room after begrudgingly going through the scan process. Melinda had returned from STRIKE training, and she, Phil, and Jemma observed the X-Ray. Jemma looked at it first, her face darkening considerably as she clicked through the various pictures.

Once she was done, she turned the laptop around to show Melinda and Phil. “There aren’t any recognizable discrepancies I can see right now; I’ll send it to some of the med staff for closer analysis.” She clicked through a couple of pictures of Daisy’s various limbs before settling on one. “Here we go. These right here,” she indicated a variety of little lines on Daisy’s femur, “Are a result of blunt force trauma and fractures. It seems,” she hesitated, “like it was stomped on repeatedly. The fractures are about a year old.”

Melinda grabbed Phil’s hand and her face darkened. He sighed. “Okay. There are others?”

Jemma nodded grimly, and swiped to a scan of her head. “She’s got scar tissue here and here. This is likely where various concussions occurred, the oldest being at four years old and the most recent,” she swallowed, “Is from at least a month ago. For her body. Thirteen years ago for us.”

Melinda squeezed Phil’s hand tight, almost suffocating his fingers. He had the strong urge to punch something, or somebody. Daisy, his Daisy, had gone through too much for any twelve year old or twenty five year old. She didn’t deserve it; she was just a child.

“There is more,” Jemma said gently, “But it wouldn’t be wise to show you now.”

Phil didn’t protest. Melinda wanted to, but she also knew that it wasn’t entirely her business and she also wasn’t sure she’d be able to keep herself from strangling Daisy’s old foster families if she heard more.

Jemma slipped away, and Melinda sagged heavily onto her husband. “She’s just a kid,” she whispered thickly. He nodded, tucking her head onto his chest. “She found us eventually,” he responded helplessly, knowing it wasn’t too much of a comfort.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies. (: I hope you're having a great day. Daisy gets ready to go shoppingggg

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just something:
> 
> Exactly one month ago, I joined AO3. I wasn’t in a great spot, I was reauditioning for my school and also had anxiety. I took to writing aos fics to take my mind off of stuff. My good friend convinced me to post the work even though my confidence was at an all time low. I thought I would just post it and get like three hits.
> 
> And then I actually got a kudos. Just one. After a minute or so. And let me tell you, I was grinning. A complete stranger read my words, and took a second to kudos it. It wasn’t a big deal, but my mental health became so much better as I received the sweetest comments. Even the ones with a little <3 made my day and I still hold every single comment close to my heart.
> 
> In the last month, I’ve posted eleven works and found out how supportive of a community the Aos fandom is, and other fandoms as well on AO3. So I guess I’m saying thank you, to everyone who reblogged my post on tumblr, or left a kind comment, or just read one of my works. Every single one of you guys pulled me out of a spiraling hole that I’m now clear of, so thank you.
> 
> ~ Ellie <3

Somebody knocked on Daisy’s door as she was eating a bowl of microwave ramen she’d found in the room, but dry. It was like chips; she’d eaten it ever since she’d been at a house that restricted her from making anything and never fed her anything, so she’d been left to find whatever she could eat uncooked. Apparently this had become a frequent comfort food to her older self; she found an entire stash under her shoe shelf. 

Now she was stress eating to avoid thinking about what Miss Simmons was showing her par- AC and May. The person knocked again.

“Yesh?” she called out, her mouth full. She quickly swallowed, wiped her hands off on her shorts and opened the door to see Melinda. She made a quick prayer that the older woman would act normal.

“You need new clothes that fit, right? Piper, Yoyo, and Davis are going to pick up some supplies; do you want to join them?” May asked, no pity at all, just her regular intelligent, gentle expression that gave Daisy serious mom-vibes. Maybe it was a mom-face.

Daisy brightened. “Sure! But I don’t have any money…” She turned to look for a wallet in her bunk.

“You donate most of your salary.” Melinda told the girl. “Here.” she handed Daisy a credit card.

“Wait- I can’t take that-” Daisy stammered. Melinda gave her a small smile. “Yes, you can. It’s the organization’s money. Buying clothes for you because of something that happened during a mission is considered a SHIELD expense.”

Daisy reluctantly took the card. “What’s my limit?”

“Get at least two of each clothing item: shirts, pants, shoes. Get more if you want. This card’s connected to a large bank account for SHIELD expenses- there’s not really a limit.”

She inspected the card and flipped it around in her fingers. Never in her life had she held so much _power_ in her hands. The closest she'd ever come was when she had five dollars from one of her nicer foster parents to buy a book. “Thanks. Uh, you said I donate my salary? What do I donate to?”

Melinda sighed and leaned on the doorframe. “ _ Who _ , not what. You had a… friend who sacrificed himself last year. You send your salary to his little sister, Amanda.”

“Oh.”

“They’re leaving soon. Are you ready?”

Daisy cocked her head thoughtfully, turned around, and quickly grabbed a leather jacket from her closet- Melinda’s leather jacket, that had conveniently disappeared when Daisy had returned after the whole ghost rider fiasco. Melinda shook her head, amused. Phil had mentioned that Daisy had stolen some of his as well. Once Daisy returned to her proper age, Melinda was going to never leave her laundry alone again.

“Ready now,” Daisy responded, shrugging on the jacket, which didn’t fit too poorly, actually, (Melinda was once again reminded of her own small stature) and then she put the card in her pocket. “Where do I go?”

“Follow me,” She told the young girl, leading her to the elevator up to the surface. They had many secret exits out of the sprawling base, but only one was accessible by car. They took a narrow passage up into a large warehouse that sat a couple of blocks from the beach, and held most of their nondescript vans. A separate underground garage held the hangar and was under the ocean water.

Melinda led a fascinated Daisy to one of the further corners of the expansive warehouse to a van where Yoyo, Piper, and Davis already stood waiting. Piper and Davis were in a heated argument over who had left the banana peel in the senior agents’ kitchen.

“Hi,” Yoyo said to Daisy warmly, sticking out her hand. “My name is Elena. But you can call me Yoyo.”

Daisy smiled uncertainly but took Yoyo’s hand eagerly. “I’m Daisy. But you know that.”

After a nudge from Elena, Piper and Davis broke off their argument to send wide smiles to Daisy as well, then sheepish ones to Melinda. “Sorry about that. I’m Piper.” Piper said, giving a little wave. “This is Davis. He’s going senile.”

The agent scoffed and shook his head at Daisy. “Don’t listen to a word she says.”

“Ugh. _Really_?”

“Guys.” Melinda interrupted, before the two could get at it again. “Be back in an hour.”

The three agents nodded. Melinda turned to Daisy and pressed a state of the art, anti tracker SHIELD phone into her hand. “Anything goes wrong, you call me,” she insisted gently. Daisy turned the phone around in her hands in awe. Melinda was a little wary of handing a preteen a device that could distract her all day, and decided that she and Phil would have to set some ground rules for electronics later, even if Phil was a pushover.

“Understood?”

“Yes, mom,” Daisy responded absently, flicking on the phone screen and happily tapping away. Melinda looked up, startled from her new apparent title spoken so casually, to see the younger agents grinning mushily at her. She mouthed, ‘ _ not a word _ ’, and Yoyo raised her eyebrows. Piper whispered, ‘mom-may’ to Davis, and Melinda shot her a glare that made the younger woman gulp.

“Don’t let her wander off,” she told the three smoothly, as if nothing monumental had happened. “Daisy, look up from your phone when you’re walking.” Daisy mumbled a half-assed consent, so Melinda placed her hand over the screen Daisy was perusing expectantly. The young girl looked up at her. “I mean  _ yes _ ,” she sighed when Melinda arched a brow. The older woman nodded, satisfied, and motioned for her to hop in the van. Daisy easily did so, followed by Yoyo driving, Piper, and Davis.

Melinda didn’t show it, but she felt uneasy letting Daisy out of her sight. It wasn’t very rational; simply a separation anxiety from a mother to her daughter. It wasn’t a new feeling, however. She felt it every time Daisy risked her life, or left to week long missions and Melinda wouldn’t know until she was already gone. 

Melinda sighed. Of all of the agents running around, Daisy Johnson was the one that had to have stolen her heart despite not wanting it outwardly.

Ever since Daisy became young, Melinda was finding new things about their relationship that she’d never noticed. Daisy’s room, her tea, stealing her jacket. Daisy still cared, but still pushed all of them away. Just like her just ten years ago...

She missed her Daisy… but it wouldn’t hurt to spend some time with the young version, just for a little while?

…

“So, AC said you had powers, and the Director said I had powers too. So what- we’re superheroes?” Daisy asked curiously as she watched the streets fly by in the window. Elena chuckled. “Well, I’m very fast. And you cause earthquakes. And yes, I guess you could say we’re superheroes. Like the avengers.”

“Who are the avengers?”

“A group of superheroes. They used to work with Coulson, I think.”

“Wait- if we’re superheroes, does that mean we get names?” Daisy asked eagerly. “Are you Speedy? The flash? Flashette? The blur? Or-”

“Mack called me Yo-yo _one time_ , and now everybody does. Was not my idea,” she grumbled with a smile. 

Daisy bit her nail absently as she looked out the window again. “An’ me? Do I have a cool name or somethin’?”

“Quake,” the guy sitting right behind Daisy told her. Davis; May’d called him. Daisy grinned. “That’s pretty cool.”

After a lull in the conversation grew boring, Daisy pulled her phone out of her pocket and started messing around with it. She did some research on people she knew- she’d known, the people she knew existed thirteen years ago. Saint Agnes had closed after charges of child abuse had caused them to shut down, Daisy found out with glee. Her only adult ally in the church, Sister Margaret, was now apparently an author of a book and worked at some other church, a much more friendly one based off of their facebook (?). A quick question to Yoyo revealed that facebook was like a mish mash of electronic accounts owned by people and businesses to either advertise or simply share stuff. It was crazy sleek and Daisy admired the design of the app (?) which was like one of the programs on the communal bulky computer in Mother Jonathan’s office, but small for phones.

Daisy found a blue app which let you download more apps, and started downloading everything as everything sounded so cool. Newspapers- that weren’t delivered? Stories every minute? And what in the world was stock? She wanted some. She read the description of a yellow app that you could take pictures and post them, which was basically what another rainbow app called instagram did. Daisy then found a genre called ‘games’, which she absolutely went to  _ town _ on. There were board games that were electronic, and new games she’d never heard of like Plants versus Zombies and Minecraft, which said it required money but when she clicked it she didn’t have to insert any coins into the phone, even though she looked all over for a slot. It just began downloading. 

While all of the apps took their sweet time to download, Daisy put her phone down reluctantly and looked up and jumped a little just as a car almost ran into their SUV and Yoyo muttered a stream of angry spanish. She could make out some spanish cuss words an older kid named Angel told her one time.

“Sorry,  _ chica _ ,” Yoyo told her, noticing the child’s jump at the sudden beep the car in front of them had made, even though it was their own fault. “Have you thought about what you want from Target?”

“Target?”

“The store we’re going to with clothes and food an' stuff,” Piper answered as Elena was distracted switching lanes. LA traffic was absolute  _ mierda. _

“Oh.” Daisy nibbled on her nail again thoughtfully. “No? I guess I’ll just grab whatever. Even plain clothes would feel like heaven, honestly,” she admitted. She wasn’t used to having a choice, ever. Especially not with clothes. She’d learned early on to accept what she’d been given from older kids’ hand-me-downs and 

“I’ll grab the groceries then. You two can help her pick out clothes. I have no sense of style,” Davis announced. Piper scoffed. “And I do? I wear black all day, Davis. I’m the worst person to help a twelve year old pick normal street clothes, except for maybe May.” she admitted. “I’ll grab all of the random bath and electronic shi-” Piper broke off and looked at Daisy. “-shiz.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Did May restrict you from cursing around me? She’s not even here right now.”

“She’s freaking terrifying when she wants to be,” Davis defended, leaning into the space between the two front seats to talk directly to Daisy. “She might not be here, but she _ knows _ .” His eyes widened comically.

“And we have training with her every day. She could use us as practice dummies if we don’t listen to her.” Piper shuddered, only seeming like she was half-kidding. 

“And I really don’t want my butt kicked. I’m still sore from last time,” Davis added. Yoyo laughed. Daisy looked over at her. “Do you train with May?”

Elena shook her head, keeping her eyes on the road. “No. I trained with you, and sometimes I stop by classes, but because of my speed I need a different type of training.”

“Oh.” Daisy looked outside the window. “It’s crazy thinking about all of the stuff I can do. I mean, not only am I a spy, but I can vote. And drink. And buy my own place,” she said in awe. “Though my room on base is super cool.” She twisted her lips, wondering about all of the ‘firsts’ she’d experienced and yet didn’t remember.

“Oh my _fucking god-_ I’ve had  _ sex!" _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Feel free to send prompts!!! This will literally be a collection of lil' stories and stuff with angst and fluff of Philindaisy. No definitive ending in sight, literally just writing to infinity. Maybe one day I'll wrap this up, but not soon. So if you have any ideas about Daisy or Philinda getting some feels or doing fun stuff (ie: disney world, hurt/comfort on a mission, etc.) comment below!!!! Thanks for reading. (:


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies!!! Short chapter today, but the next will be very long. (: The chapter after that will have some hurt/comfort... o:
> 
> I will likely eventually include all of the prompts I received in the comments last chapter, and I will 100% credit them, of course!!!
> 
> Daisy goes shopping and has her first real daughter moment with May. <3

After a hasty shutdown of Daisy’s both awed and disgusting spiraling thoughts about her sex life, the car pulled into the Target parking lot and a blushing Piper and Davis hopped out of the van, an amused Yoyo and a still awe struck but disgusted Daisy close behind.

Daisy’s mouth dropped as they entered the large, bustling store. Davis bounded over to the sale for kids section located in front of the doors immediately and found a package of something colorful, holding it up and grinning. “Water balloons!”

Piper rolled her eyes and snatched the package and put it back. “You’re a _grown man_ , Davis. Please don’t go asking for everything you see, you immature _child_.”

“Well you called me senile _thirty minutes ago,_ Pipes! Pick a lane!” Davis responded petulantly.

Yoyo pulled over a cart, chuckling. “I don’t know, it may be fun to take Daisy somewhere like a park and play water balloons on an off day?” She directed the question to the young girl. Daisy shrugged. She didn’t want to be the reason somebody wasted their off day with an annoying twelve year old, though it did sound fun.

“Okay, just get it,” Yoyo decided.

Davis grinned smugly at Piper and dropped three water balloon packs into the cart, prompting another squabble about maturity. Yoyo’s eyes twinkled as she watched the two of them banter in the middle of the store. Eventually Piper raised her hands in surrender. “Whatever, big baby.” she teased.

“We have to submit receipts with explanations of our purchases. How about these are for non-lethal target practice?” Davis suggested. Piper scoffed and muttered something about Davis being the target as Daisy looked around the large store. Two long walkways spread out in a ninety degree direction surrounded by racks and shelves of colorful items. Daisy didn’t remember having ever been somewhere so beautiful. And she could buy _anything_. It was both exhilarating and daunting at the same time.

Somebody brushed by her and hit her shoulder with their own by accident, causing her to flinch. “So, where do I get clothes?” Daisy asked nervously, feeling self conscious about being in such a crowded place. Instinctively, she pulled the leather jacket she’d been drawn to in her room earlier tighter around her, the familiar and yet unknown natural motion soothing her. The jacket smelled like something soft… tea, maybe? She smiled wistfully at the calm she felt at the smell.

“Meet back here in twenty minutes,” Yoyo told the two agents, who barely acknowledged her but moved down the left walkway while Yoyo led Daisy and the cart down the right, to an area filled with clothes her size, which was a child medium, apparently. Daisy timidly picked up a couple of each clothing item, mostly in pastels but a couple in black as well to fit in around the base. She didn’t want to stand out anymore than she already did. 

She debated picking another leather jacket that was more her size, but as she thumbed the sleeve and inspected it she realized that it just wasn’t like the one she was wearing, it didn’t feel familiar and calming, and it didn’t smell like tea, so she didn’t grab it. It just wasn’t the same.

At the shoe area, Yoyo insisted on her getting a specific pair that the runner used. It made sense that with her speed she’d love to run. Elena told Daisy that the shoe company was her personal favorite and was good for support, whatever that meant.

As they moved to the jewelry area (Elena promptly decided that Daisy would need a couple of pieces after she told the columbian that she’d never had anything of the sort of her own.) they passed Davis riding the back of his cart down the walkway, his feet not touching the ground. Piper was following him while consulting her list of what to get. When they passed the area with toilet paper she threw the packs in the cart, a couple hitting Davis’ head as Daisy watched in fascinated amusement. 

“Are they together?” She asked Yoyo as they reached the jewelry aisle. Elena chuckled. “No. But they’re very good friends. Davis has a pregnant wife, and last I heard Piper had a girlfriend who works in the labs with Jemma.”

“Jemma’s the scientist I’m friends with?” Daisy asked curiously as she toyed with a pretty silver chain. Yoyo nodded as Daisy displayed the chain on her neck to try, and then nodded again admiringly. “You should get it. Here’s a matching bracelet.” She handed Daisy another, smaller chain. Daisy smiled and placed them both in the cart, already thinking of showing them to her mom- May- mom- whatever, when they went back to the base. (She still wasn't sure how May felt about the term.)

The two of them met back up with Davis and Piper at the checkout area. Davis tried the self checkout area but then accidentally scanned something twice so they had to wait an obnoxious fifteen minutes for a worker to come over and delete the scan. After they restarted, nobody let Davis near the scanner and instead Piper and Daisy tag teamed scanning the items and placing them into bags. On their way out the store, Piper handed Daisy a bag of skittles they’d just bought and Daisy, having never had skittles in her twelve years of life, put a green one in her mouth and made it last a couple of minutes as she tried to savor the flavor as much as possible. She continued this pattern the whole ride home, even as Davis and Piper argued over organic and non-organic bananas and their importance or lack thereof.

Home. The base was her home, more than any foster family or Saint Agnes ever was.

…

May was waiting in the garage when they arrived, her face the usual stoic mask that Daisy had already grown accustomed to, but understood that it didn’t reflect how the older woman was feeling. Yoyo handed Daisy her bag with her clothes and a couple more bags of candy stuffed at the bottom.

Before the three agents could peel off to their respective rooms, Daisy gave them all hugs. “Thanks for the fun trip, you guys!” she told them with a grin. It really had been fun, especially watching Davis and Piper bicker the entire time.

They waved goodbye and Daisy followed May back down the secret path into the now sort-of familiar base. Daisy tried to memorize her way so she wouldn’t have to have somebody accompany her everywhere.

“Have fun?” Melinda asked as they walked together. Daisy grinned at her. “Yep. My friends are cool.” May smiled in response. “They are,” she agreed. “Are you hungry? You haven’t eaten anything except for breakfast.”

Daisy shrugged. She was used to not eating a lot of food, so the hunger pains that came after a time always were automatically ignored. “I guess I could eat something. Piper gave me skittles.”

At this, May pursed her lips.

“What?"

“You shouldn’t be eating just plain sugar. And it’s artificial. I _really_ need to talk to Piper.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “It was fine. I think. First time eating them.”

“In the future, you’re not allowed to eat anything like that unless you’ve eaten something substantial.” May informed her, leaving no room for argument. Though Daisy apparently found some room. The teen stopped and dropped her jaw. “Not allowed? What do you mean, not allowed! That’s _ridiculous_!”

May turned to face the teen and arched an eyebrow, shooting her a glare that usually sent the junior agents running. “ _Sorry?_ ” she asked lowly. Daisy immediately understood the meaning: _You better revise that talk-back or I’ll kick your ass_ , or something along those lines. Daisy knew innately that May would never hurt her or lay a finger on her, but still. That look gave her chills.

Daisy hastily rearranged her outraged face into one of innocence. “I mean, okay, okay! Fine.” She thought for a split second, then added, “Mom,” meekly.

May’s stern face softened at the term. “No candy,” she repeated, before turning around and continuing walking; Daisy following like a puppy. “Let’s go to one of the kitchens and get you a salad, or something.”

Daisy’d never had a mother to chastise her for talking back. Though it wasn’t a very fun experience, she grinned. She had a _mother,_ one who snuggled her when she had a nightmare and kept her from eating candy and… loved her, even. Yeah. Daisy knew that May loved her, or at least her older self, though she didn’t show it always.

“I have a mom,” she whispered to herself quietly and gleefully as she followed behind Melinda. She swore she could see the corners of the older woman’s mouth turn up at that.

She was also very very grateful that she had five more bags of skittles secretly pushed to the bottom of her grocery bag.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So- I said this chapter was going to be very long and the next would be angsty. I lied, sorry <3  
> This chapter was too long so I chopped it in half. Hurt/comfort is soon, promise!
> 
> Daisy gets some rules.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HAPPY AOS DAY LOVELIES!!!

After practically forcing Daisy to eat a quickly made salad that Melinda stole a few bites of, she took Daisy to her room where Phil was working on some mission report corrections, waiting for the two of them, as planned.

While Daisy had been out shopping, Melinda and Phil had decided that they needed rules for the young girl if Daisy was going to be let loose inside of the building. They also might have made a couple of encrypted line phone calls.

Daisy sat down on the couch in their living room and looked at the two of them warily. “You guys look like you’re about to lecture me.”

Phil chuckled. “Not really. We just need to set some ground rules while you’re stuck in this state. You’re a bit too young to be running around unchecked, sorry.” Melinda sat down next to him as he closed his laptop. She motioned for him to start. He clasped his hands together and smiled softly at Daisy. “First off; phone. We’re going to need it from eight at night to eight in the morning.” Daisy harrumphed at this and flopped back into the couch, but Melinda could see an edge of a smile in her eyes. She got the feeling the girl was happy to have some rules from them.

“And we’re putting a parental block on the app store. You got forty-seven apps in, like, fifteen minutes,” Phil remarked, slightly amused. “And a lot of them were business related. Why do you need a stock multiplier?” he asked. Daisy had no idea what that was.

“Can I keep the ones I have?” Daisy asked hopefully.

Phil turned to Melinda to answer the question, who had materialized a cup of tea from who-knows-where and was sipping on it. They both knew she had the final say in most things, which Phil was fine with. She was generally the wiser of the two of them anyway, and way less of a pushover than him.

“Sure. But if we see you playing too many games, we’ll delete them.”

Daisy shrugged. “Cool, okay.”

“Second thing; food. You have to eat the right amount of healthy food and nutrients a day. For the time being, you’re growing. You need to eat; you’ve barely had any food today or yesterday.”

Daisy sighed. “I dunno. I guess I’m just used to not having a lot of food. In Saint Agnes, we didn’t get much the older we got because they wanted the younger kids to look healthier so they could get adopted or fostered faster. Once you were older the likelihood decreased, so they kinda left us to fend for ourselves.” As she talked, the senior agents’ eyes darkened considerably. “But I was fine,” she added hastily. “Got used to it.”

They seemed to have a silent conversation with each other, (which Daisy thought was adorable. They could practically read each other’s minds, squee), and then looked back at her, seeming to have reached some kind of decision. “Okay. Well, here you can have as much food as you want, provided it’s actually got nutrients or protein. We’ll never restrict you unless it’s detrimental to your health. Good?”

Daisy nodded. “Can I still be your taste-tester with Yoyo and her boyfriend?”

Phil chuckled. “Anytime.”

Melinda took the next part of the conversation. “You’ll need to have somebody with you at most times. We’re sent off on missions a lot, and so are a lot of the people we trust, so when nobody is available, we have two very good friends that live in LA that’ll take care of you off base. They can’t interact with us directly, but they can with you since your younger face is not associated with SHIELD.”

“They can’t talk to you guys at all? Why not?”

“They were disavowed about a year ago. They- and we- lied to the russian government about their existence, so if they prove that to be false by interacting with anybody affiliated with SHIELD, they’ll have lied to the russian government and will have targets on their backs.”

Daisy frowned. “Oh. So what, I’ll be baysat by them? I don’t need a babysitter,” she told them petulantly.

Melinda raised her eyebrows. “Probably not, but the base isn’t the safest place to be without a trusted adult. Fugitives are escorted in the halls; training areas are right next to common areas… it’s not a good place for a kid to be.”

Daisy’s eyes widened. “You- you’re not gonna send me away, are you?”

“No, of course not,” A.C. was quick to reassure her. Daisy relaxed back into the couch. “This is just when all trusted agents are busy, which shouldn’t be too often. We called them already through an encrypted line and they already said they’d love to. You and them- Okay, you and Bobbi were good friends. You tolerated Hunter.”

“Bobbi and Hunter?” Daisy echoed. “Are they married?”

“Second time, yeah. Bobbi and Lance Morse,” Melinda confirmed with a smiled tugging at her lips. “Though Lance goes by Hunter. And honestly, I wouldn’t trust him to be alone in a house with a twelve year old, he’d probably burn something down. But Bobbi’s great- plus, she’s already got a kid.”

Daisy grinned. “Cool? How old?”

“Five. He’s adopted; his name is Anthony. But Bobbi and Hunter call him Tony.”

Daisy toyed with one of the throw pillows next to her. “Can I call him my cousin?” she asked shyly. She still felt new to the whole your-friends-are-family thing, but a cousin would be nice. She used to dream that some long lost aunt or uncle with a kid her age would scoop her up from Saint Agnes.

“More like nephew, though with the age, I guess cousin would be a more appropriate label,” Phil mused.

Daisy smiled. “Cool.” She repeated. “I’ve got a cousin.”

…

Later that day, both A.C. and May had some work to do so they gave her the option of sticking with them in their room or going to Jemma and Fitz’s personal lab and watching them. Daisy eagerly took the latter, having been informed by Yoyo that apparently Jemma and Fitz were her closest friends when she was older; like siblings. She changed into clothes more her size but kept the slightly-too-large smelling-like-home-and-tea leather jacket.

“Hi!” Jemma said brightly as she knocked on the wide open door. She had lab goggles on, and was closely inspecting a vial of red liquid. Fitz was next to her, reading a book, muttering something about… quantum entanglement? What was that?

“Hey,” Daisy said absently as she once again took in the futuristic look the room had. Well, it was technically modern, but to her, this looked like something out a spaceship. The bright white walls and glass and screens everywhere, even in the table, caused her jaw to drop a little. They’d achieved all this in only thirteen years.

“You can sit wherever,” Jemma told her. Daisy sat on a black metal stool near Fitz, and after a few boring moments of silence, started spinning around on it. She got maybe three circles in before she noticed Fitz looking at her.

“Sorry,” she mumbled, stopping her momentum by catching her feet in the stool legs. Fitz smiled at her gratefully and then opened a bottle of coke, which made Daisy’s mouth water. Maybe her mom would let her have some later, after dinner or something.

After a few more minutes of silence, she pulled out her phone and started playing a game called doodle jump, where you move a little alien figure side to side as it hops on platforms and avoids aliens. It was enough to keep her occupied for a half hour, until Fitz announced he was going to go get some food. He left the glass lab and Jemma immediately started giggling.

“What?” Daisy asked. Jemma rolled over to her. “I’m going to play a prank on Fitz,” she told her with a mischievous grin. Daisy mirrored her smile. Finally they were going to do something interesting! “Awesome. What?”

Jemma rummaged through a white cabinet and pulled out a package of mentos. “I’m going to position this in his bottle so that the next time he opens it, the mentos will react with his pop and erupt.” She explained to Daisy.

“Cool! I’ve never heard of a prank like that,” she admitted, gleefully accepting the mento Jemma handed her. “Just don’t tell May,” Jemma whispered playfully.

Daisy was starting to understand why her older self was friends with the scientist.

The two of them worked together to carefully position the mento under the cap before screwing it back on tightly. “We’re only putting one so that it doesn’t make too much of a mess.” She positioned it on the edge of the desk so it wouldn’t ruin any of Fitz’s stuff.

“So, what, it’s gonna explode? How?” Daisy asked eagerly.

Jemma brightened even more, probably because, well,  _ science _ . “In the Diet Coke bottle the Mentos candy provides a rough surface that allows the bonds between the carbon dioxide gas and water to break more easily, helping to create carbon dioxide bubbles. As the Mentos candy sinks in the bottle, the candy causes the production of more and more carbon dioxide bubbles, and the rising bubbles react with carbon dioxide that is still dissolved in the soda to cause more carbon dioxide to be freed and create even more bubbles, resulting in the eruption. Because Mentos candies are rather dense, they sink rapidly through the liquid, causing a fast, large eruption.”

Daisy zoned out a little during the lecture, but was for the most part fascinated. She could’ve played something like this on the nuns had she known the whole science about it. “Great! So, now what?”

“We wait,” Jemma hummed and moved back to her experiment, acting as if nothing had happened. Daisy turned back to her game, giggling every so often.

After a couple more minutes, Fitz arrived, handing a wrapped sandwich to Jemma with a kiss. Daisy smiled at the adorableness of it all; almost forgetting about the prank until a loud ‘POP’ and a ‘ _bloody hell!_ ’ came from Fitz’s desk. Daisy looked over and burst out laughing at the foam and soda covering Fitz’s hands. Jemma joined in, and they both were giggling so hard at Fitz’s bewildered expression they could barely catch their breath.

“ _ You- your face, _ ” Daisy wheezed. “ _ I wish I filmed that _ ,” she kept giggling, almost falling off her stool with a loud hiccup, which caused both her and Jemma to laugh even harder, doubling over. 

Fitz shook his head at the both of them, amused. “Thanks, Jemma. And I’m guessing this one was involved as well?” He chuckled. Daisy nodded gleefully. Fitz rolled his eyes playfully, then handed them both paper towels. “You prank; you clean,” he recited, sounding as if that was a common saying around the base.

Daisy was still giggling as she wiped the sticky floor.

…

Melinda was working on some ridiculous equipment requests-  _ why would Agent Miller need two-pound bags of sugar for exercise? _ \- when she got a text from Jemma. She smiled reading it, then turned to Phil.

“It worked, Jemma says. Daisy was explaining the whole thing to Fitz. She learned something and she didn’t even notice.”

Phil chuckled. “I wonder what Fitz’s face was like.”

“Probably the same as the whole pennies in the cereal box prank,” Melinda responded with a smirk. “Jemma was worried Daisy wouldn’t want to hang out with them because science was boring to her when she was older, so it was probably even worse when she was younger. Now she’s asking about more types of reactions because of the prank. Jemma had a good plan.”

“For sure,” Phil agreed, sending her a playful smile before returning to his paperwork.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes- Huntingbird and a huntingbird kid will be minor characters! Hurray!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lots of MayDaisy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So- I'm in the hospital for the night, just diagnosed with diabetes, so unstable blood sugar blah blah anyway
> 
> Bright side: Lots of writing will happen in my boring room!!!!!
> 
> Next chapter(I think) will be hurt/comfort with more Phil and Daisy interactions. Ik I'm doing a lot of MayDaisy rn, sorry!

That night, after a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs, Melinda and Phil invited Daisy to join them in one of the common rooms. It was Friday, and normally Daisy would be the one dragging them all to weekly movie night, but with the whole situation, Piper and Davis had taken charge.

Daisy shyly took a seat right next to Melinda as six or seven agents filed in. She recognized most of them, like Yoyo, Piper, Davis, Jemma, Fitz, another scientist, and a guy with his arms around Yoyo - Zack, or Mack, maybe? Mack sounded right. 

One or two of them alone didn’t make her nervous, but there were so many people in the room. It was daunting.

Melinda sensed Daisy’s tense, curled in posture and hesitated a split second before placing what she hoped was a comforting arm around the younger girl’s shoulders. She smiled internally when she felt Daisy relax marginally, then shot a half-hearted glare at Phil when he sent her a dopey smile.

Davis started handing people beers, then after a questioning look to Melinda and receiving a nod from her, he handed Daisy a can of sprite, who took it gleefully.

After a quick vote, they ended up watching a comedy movie that Daisy didn’t really remember. After a few minutes into the movie, the day’s events with Mace and shopping and with FitzSimmons caught up to her and she snuggled closer into her mother’s side as she yawned. In the dark room, her eyes fluttered closed and she promptly fell asleep.

Melinda felt Daisy’s breath even out against her ribcage. “ _ She’s asleep _ ,” she mouthed to Phil. He smiled softly in response. Quickly, while everybody except her husband was rapt watching the movie, Melinda pressed a light kiss to the top of Daisy’s head.

“I love you,” she whispered quietly, and Daisy made a contented sigh and curled into Melinda even more.

…

Daisy was gently shaken awake by a firm hand on her shoulder. She yawned and looked around the dim room with bleary eyes. Everybody was gone except for AC and May and the lights had been turned up; the movie was over.

“Hey,” May said softly from across the large coffee table, picking blankets off of the floor. AC moved away from where he’d just woken up Daisy. She rubbed her eyes. “Hey. Did I miss the entire movie?”

AC nodded as he threw the pillows on the floor back onto the couches. “You didn’t miss out, though.”

May shrugged. “I liked it,” she said, completely serious. “It was cute,” she deadpanned. 

Daisy stifled a laugh at the very stoic and super-spy woman calling a rom-com ‘cute’. “You like rom-coms?” Daisy asked incredulously.

The corners of Melinda’s mouth twitched upwards as she folded a large navy blue throw, but she didn’t respond. Coulson chuckled. “When we were at the academy, she was the scariest trainee any of the communications cadets had ever seen. Then one night, I walk into the common room at three in the morning and she’s sobbing because of some romance movie… she wasn’t so scary after that.” He grinned at the playful glare he received from her direction. Daisy giggled, imagining a younger May so worked up over a dumb movie.

“Do yah need help cleaning?” She asked, still feeling sleepy. 

“No, thanks,” AC responded. “We’re basically done. Everybody picked up their trash, but they were being loud so we sent them to their bunks and we just took care of the pillows and blankets.”

Once they finished, they both turned to her. She was still propped up on her elbows on the couch. “Will you be in your own room tonight?” Melinda asked.

Daisy twisted her lips. She really wanted to cuddle with her mom again but she felt like that was totally intruding… “I mean- if- if you don’t care…”

May’s lips curled up just barely, but her neutral expression still was warm and motherly, which made Daisy smile. “Sure. Brush your teeth and change. You have access to our room, by the way. Just use your handprint.” She picked Daisy’s tablet with the map up off the floor and handed it to the shyly grinning young girl. Melinda left the room with Phil after making sure Daisy could use the tablet to get around the base without trouble.

Daisy grinned at the new information that she could go into their room herself; with her handprint. That made her feel even more important to them; like proof she was their family.

She quickly made her way to her room and cleaned up to sleep, hesitating before grabbing her favorite tea-smelling leather jacket and making her way up (ugh) three flights of stairs.

Slipping quietly into her parents’ room, she saw AC doing something in the kitchen. She waved to him before moving into the dark bedroom, where May was already a lump under the covers. Daisy uncertainly sat on the edge of the bed, wondering if she’d misunderstood, that Melinda didn’t want her there-

“You can sleep under the sheets, you know,” came a murmur from under the blankets as the senior agent’s head peeked out and looked at her blearily. Daisy brightened and crawled under the covers, snug next to her mother. Like the night before, May put her hand on Daisy’s shoulder in a quiet question before the young girl curled further into Melinda’s embrace with a resounding ‘ _ yes _ ’.

While the room was dark, the light from the kitchen still filtered in through the half-open door as Coulson finished for the night. 

“ _ I love you too _ ,” Daisy whispered, responding to her mother’s earlier admission. Melinda pressed a kiss to the top of her head, smiling.

Soon after, the lights in the kitchen turned off and AC joined them on Melinda’s side of the bed, curling an arm around his wife’s shoulders.

That’s how one little family fell asleep that night, nestled together.

…

Melinda woke up long before her alarm, when the moon was still high and visible from the window.

She could hear somebody sniffling in the pitch black room. She layed on her arm, still, listening, before remembering the small child breathing shakily against her chest, her hot breath landing on and tickling May’s hand. Daisy was the source of the quiet sniffling in the quiet room.

Melinda lifted her head to check Daisy’s face, which was scrunched up, upset, but she didn’t seem to be awake.

A nightmare.

Melinda had seen enough agents at the Ops Academy trying to hide their night terrors to know that Daisy had had practice suppressing whatever memories that haunted her. She’d seen it in twenty year olds.

No twelve year old should  _ ever  _ have the look of a person who’s been through hell and back. 

Melinda suppressed the images of Daisy’s scars on her bones that no child should have to suffer and, after a mini internal debate about whether she should wake her up or let her sleep but possibly be in pain, Melinda gently shook her awake. It’s what she always wanted to happen when she was plagued with memories of Bahrain.

Daisy started awake after a few gentle shakes. “Wha- oh, hey,” the young girl murmured groggily. “Is it morning already?”

“No, you… you were having a nightmare,” Melinda told her quietly. Daisy blinked at her, then ducked her head and flushed. “Oh, sorry.”

“It’s fine. Remember? I get scared too,” Melinda referenced their previous midnight conversation. 

Daisy shrugged. “But I woke you up. So, sorry.”

Melinda gave the girl a comforting smile and ducked back under the covers, putting an arm around Daisy’s shoulder. “I’m here; there’s no need to be scared,” she whispered. “I’ve got you.”

“Thanks, mom,” Daisy mumbled as she fell asleep; the relatively new title still warming Melinda’s chest. “G’night.”

“Good night, Dais.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Huntingbird!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been in the hospital a couple of times, I've had some writer's block, and also RL. Sorry for the hiatus, posting should continue as normal. Thanks for the patience <3

The next week, Daisy developed a schedule as she grew accustomed to 2020 and the base. She’d sleep with Melinda, sometimes waking up in the middle of the night to be reassured she wasn’t at Saint Agnes anymore. In the morning, she’d eat some of A.C.’s awesome breakfast and then follow one of her parents around the base and pepper them with questions as they worked. Then, if they had a mission, they would leave her with FitzSimmons or Mack and Elena (Who she’d started calling Mackelena, then Macarena, to their chagrin). Daisy reluctantly slept in her bunk alone when they were gone. If they were on base for the night she'd find herself in Ma- her mother's arms.

There hadn’t been a reason to go to Bobbi and Hunter, until one afternoon when Mace decided that he needed most of the people Daisy was entrusted to be around to head out on some mission in Brazil. It was time for her to leave base for the night.

“We don’t know when we’ll be back,” May said as she prepped some icers before storing them in a crate on the Zephyr. “You might be with Bobbi’s family for a couple of days or longer.”

Daisy frowned. “But… what about you guys?” 

“What about us?”

Daisy opened her mouth to respond, then closed it. She wanted to say she didn’t want to leave them and go stay with some people she didn’t know off-base. She was pretty nervous, actually, but she didn’t want to sound like a baby. She was twelve, not five. She would be _fine_. “Nevermind,” she mumbled.

Melinda paused in packing a duffel bag to look at her daughter with a small, warm smile reserved for solely Daisy and Coulson. “I know it’s really last minute, but it’ll be fine. They’re really nice. And remember, they have a son, Anthony? You were excited to meet him.”

“Yeah, I know. But I don’t know them at all, what if…” Daisy trailed off. 

May started scanning the shelves to make sure they were stocked up medically, biting her lip. Mace had said the mission was supposed to be a mere couple of days, but looking at the tactics she’d planned out with Coulson, the slightest mishap or obstacle could have them gone for much longer. She needed to make sure that they’d be prepared, just in case. “Phil and I trust them with our lives; we have known each other for years. There’s no other option, Dais. Just try it, it’ll be fine.”

“Fine. Okay. Can you at least tell me something about your super-secret mission?” The answer was the same every time, but she had to ask.

“No, and you know that, Dais.”

Daisy pouted, then brightened when she saw Coulson coming up the cargo ramp, stopping next to them. “Agent Diaz is ready to take you to Bobbi and Hunter by an unmarked car. You ready?” He asked.

Daisy gestured to the backpack holding quite a few of her meaningful possessions slung behind her. She still had a little bit of a problem with letting go of material things. She’d never had this much stuff that was just…  _ hers _ . “Yeah, I guess.” 

She bounced on her feet a little before moving forward to hug him, burying her face in his black jacket. “Be safe, Dad,” she said softly. She’d tried out saying the word ‘dad’ more than a few times alone in her bunk, just getting used to the unfamiliar word in her mouth. That was nice, but actually saying it to Phil was ten times better.

“Bye Dais,” He squeezed her lightly before she pulled away from the hug and then tackled her mother, who let out a noise of surprise before hugging her daughter back. “Bye, mom,” Daisy said before pulling away and grinning at both of them. “Love you guys.”

“Love you too, Dais,” May replied, smiling. Agents started piling onto the Zephyr, so Daisy’s parents nudged her towards the cargo ramp where Agent Diaz stood, waiting to take her to Bobbi and Hunter. As Daisy started walking off the Zephyr, she rolled her eyes as Coulson gave May a quick kiss before beginning to explain the mission to everybody in his ‘secret-agent-voice’, as she had dubbed it. He usually sounded more in charge and commanding during operations or tactical meetings, but when the three of them were cuddled up at the end of the day with hot chocolate he sounded a lot kinder and gentler.

“Let’s do this,” Daisy said to Diaz as the ramp started closing behind her and the Zephyr prepared for takeoff. “I call shotgun!”

…

Daisy was not allowed to sit in shotgun, much to her dismay. Even though Yo Yo had let her when they went to Target, Diaz didn’t know if Daisy was allowed to or not by her parents and didn’t want to risk the wrath of Melinda May.

While they were driving the forty-five minute trip to Bobbi’s house, it began to rain, water trickling down the frosty window. Daisy traced the droplets with her finger, bored. “Have you ever met them?” She asked the agent, who looked at her briefly in the rearview mirror. Diaz shook her head. “No. This would be my first time.”

“Oh.” She propped her elbow up on the window and rested her head in her palm, smushing her cheek into her palm. “How much longer?”

“Soon, I promise. It’s a couple more exits on the freeway, and then we’ll be there. I can turn on some music?”

“Ooh, yeah, sure.” Daisy watched with interest as one twist of a dial next to the steering wheel turned some pop song on. It was still crazy to her how great quality radios were common in cars now. 

Listening to some boy repeat the word ‘yummy yum’ over and over again (strange, but okay), Daisy’s eyelids grew heavy and she was lulled to sleep.

…

“Damn, she  _ is _ tiny.”

"Hun, language, remember?"

Daisy blearily blinked awake at the sound of a british man’s voice, before jerking in alarm, her seatbelt catching on her chest. After a second of gaining awareness of her surroundings, she realized the car was stopped and her door was open. A blonde woman and a man were standing right outside of the car, looking at her with bewildered expressions. Daisy gaped at them, then unbuckled herself quickly.

“Um, Bobbi and Hunter, I’m guessing?” Daisy asked, rubbing at her eyes. 

The blonde woman beamed. “Yup. Nice to… ‘meet’ you, though we’ve actually met already. You want to come inside?”

“Please.” Daisy hopped out of the car with her backpack and waved goodbye to agent Diaz before turning to look at the house they’d stopped in front of. It was nice, with a dark red brick facade and a dark brown planked roof with ivy growing down the sides. “Your house is pretty,” she remarked, turning to the two adults. “I’m Daisy, but you, uh, know that.”

“Yeah. We were good friends with your older self. I’m Bobbi, this is Hunter,” Bobbi introduced. "Hunter's actually Lance Morse, now, but he still likes to be called his, and I quote, 'very cool mercenary name'," she explained, sounding as if she was talking about a battle she'd lost a while ago. 

Hunter squinted at Daisy. “I still cannot believe this.”

"What? That I'm twelve?" Daisy asked as she followed them up to the front door. 

"That you still wear all black even when you're twelve," Hunter responded. "Copying May's signature style, I bet." Daisy rolled her eyes. He wasn't exactly wrong.

"Ready to meet our son?" Bobbi asked with a smile.

Daisy shrugged. "Sure."

Bobbi unlocked the front wooden door with a key, but Daisy didn't miss how a laser gave her a retinal scan at the same time. Something beeped quietly, and the door opened. Daisy went in first, looking around the foyer with interest before getting knocked to the floor by something small and fast.

"Tony!" Bobbi stifled a laugh as she helped Daisy get up from the floor, then picked up her assailant: a little kid, who was grinning widely, missing a tooth. "Say sorry, baby."

"Sowwy."

"He gets excited about newcomers," Bobbi explained with an apologetic tone. Daisy grinned. "It's fine. You're cute, huh?" She gushed at Tony, all of her worries about staying with two strangers momentarily forgotten.

"Yeah," Tony agreed. Daisy giggled.

"Well, this is going be a fun couple of days," Hunter said, gesturing an offer to carry Daisy's backpack. She shook her head no, and he moved further down the front entrance to a room that looked like a living room. "You want to get shown to where you'll be staying?"

As Daisy was led upstairs to the guest room, she couldn't help but be reminded of countless other times like this as a foster kid, moving into a new home that already had a kid and didn't really care about her.

 _No_ , she reminded herself. _I've got parents- they're just on mission, that's all._

_I'll be back with them soon._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is what vibe I imagine for their house: [click here](https://decorinteriorsus.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/post-modern.jpg)
> 
> Next chapter: Longer, and it's about Daisy staying at the Morse's!


	11. Chapter 11

Sleep was difficult.

Well, it was always difficult for Daisy, but at the Morse’s house it was simply non-existent the first night.

Daisy had slept without her mother before, but now, in the unfamiliar room absent of the constant clanging sounds and smells of sweat and blood tracing the walls of the base, she felt alone. A knot formed in the pit of her stomach as she curled up under the hot covers, yearning for sleep.

It never came, so when the sun came up the next morning Daisy was already bored out of her mind. Before heading downstairs to see if she could find somebody, she found her favorite green-tea smelling leather jacket and put it on over her pajamas, already calming some of her nerves from being in the new environment. She frowned as she realized Bobbi and Hunter might find it odd that she was wearing the jacket with her sleeping clothes so she reluctantly took it off and folded it carefully on her bed.  Daisy then slipped downstairs, rubbing at her tired eyes.

“Hey,” she said as she wandered into the Morse’s kitchen. Bobbi was there, prepping some food for Tony, who Daisy could see giggling and playing with something in the living room.

“Hey, sweetie.”

Daisy wasn’t sure if she was okay with being called ‘sweetie’, but it made her feel warm and fuzzy inside, so she didn't protest.

“Need any help?” Daisy asked, looking aimlessly at what Bobbi was making (oatmeal, bleh- she’d had enough of the soggy stuff at Saint Agnes to make it one of the only foods she was picky enough to hate) before wandering around the kitchen awkwardly, trailing her finger along the marble counter.

“No thanks, Dais.” Bobbi left the bowl of oatmeal to stew before looking at the teenager with a warm smile. “What would you like to eat?”

Daisy shrugged. “ ‘M not hungry,” she mumbled truthfully. She’d lost all of her appetite since arriving at the Morse’s. She just wanted to see her parents.

“Aw. Well, let me know if you are. I think you’re old enough to grab anything out of the pantry if you need to, but avoid anything too sugary or high in cholesterol.”

Daisy decided to avoid mentioning she had no clue what cholesterol was and instead just nodded. 

Hunter chose to walk in at that moment and ruffled her hair. She could tell it was along the lines of a brotherly movement but it took all of her might not to flinch from the feeling of his hands in her hair, even for a few moments.

“So, I was thinking. Y’all are like… my aunt and uncle?” 

Bobbi and Hunter exchanged glances.

“I dunno, mate. When you were… older, Bobbi was more like your older sister,” Hunter responded, grabbing a sugary granola bar from the pantry. He started to open it, then froze with a ‘whoops’ expression on his face when he saw Bobbi shoot him a disapproving glance. He raised his hands in a placating manner and put the bar back on the shelf slowly before grabbing an apple. Daisy giggled at Bobbi’s approving smirk.

“What are we doing today?” Hunter asked, moving into the living room to say hello to Tony.

Bobbi shrugged, handing Daisy a glass of water. Daisy hadn’t wanted one but once she started drinking, she realized she was thirsty. She grinned when she finished, realizing that somehow Bobbi had known she wanted water. She probably had a sixth sense, mom-powers like Melinda did. “I was thinking of the beach. Daisy?”

Daisy grinned, nodding. “Awesome. I’ve never been,” she added, a little bit self conscious that they would judge her. Everybody her age had been to the beach, right? And they lived in Los Angeles- the beach was twenty minutes away.

“Great! Did you bring a swimsuit?”

“Yeah,” Daisy answered. “I haven’t used it yet, but we- Me an’ my mom- bought it just in case.”

“Can you go get changed into it? If we want to arrive early enough before it’s too crowded we need to leave soon,” Bobbi explained.

Daisy nodded eagerly and left, faintly hearing Hunter telling Tony about their plans for the day.

She’d never been to the beach before- and she was pretty excited. She’d heard stories about it, sure, but going was altogether different. She planned on picking up some pretty shells or rocks or something to show to her parents.

She hopped downstairs with sunglasses and her leather jacket tucked in her backpack, where she saw Tony sitting on the couch hunched over a game boy. Daisy grinned at Tony’s swim shirt, which read ‘Glitter and Gold’ and was sprinkled with little gold sparkles. She tickled him in his stomach and he giggled, shrieking for his parents. When Bobbi rounded the corner to check on them, Daisy hastily stepped back from Tony. She knew from past experience that tickling a foster parent’s actual kid could get her beat. This was a different situation, but still. Old habits die hard.

“Oh hey, you two,” Bobbi said brightly. “Glad you’re having fun. Ready?”

Daisy nodded eagerly, following Bobbi and Tony out their front door and into their blue SUV. Once they were buckled in, Tony started playing on his gameboy again and Daisy decided to find out more of what she’d been like as an adult.

“Oh, mate. There was this one time, before you had powers, I think. We were playing Mario Kart in the common area; you, me, an’ Mack. You lost pretty quickly, and when it happened you stood up and yelled shi-”

“ _ Hunter- _ ” Bobbi warned as she pulled onto the freeway.

“-You know what I mean- very loudly. May and Coulson walked in at that point. I don’t think they would’ve cared that much, actually, but you were  _ so _ ashamed. You started apologizing for saying a cuss word- which  _ wasn’t even all that bad of one _ -”

“ _ Hunter _ ,” Bobbi repeated, amused.

“-and you acted like you’d committed murder. Which, at that point, you probably had done at least once already.”

Daisy blinked.

“Well, it was more like you got caught by your ‘parents’, I think that’s why you were so flustered. Even before this whole situation, they were like your parents.” Bobbi added. “Nobody ever said anything, but we could all feel that you three had a different dynamic.”

Daisy grinned. “Cool. That’s- that’s cool.”

In the rearview mirror, both adults looked at her and smiled warmly.

…

When they arrived back from a long day at the beach and then at the pier, Daisy watched a movie with the family before she settled at the kitchen counter, staring at her phone. Tony moved to the living room and started ‘ _ whooshing’ _ some action figures through the air.

“Hey, munchkin, want to go play with Tony? You’ve been on your phone for quite a while,” Bobbi spoke up after a while, leaning on the counter. She put her hand over Daisy’s screen, causing her to look up.

“I’m not a baby,” Daisy mumbled, trying to hide how she truly wanted to play with Tony. She had wanted to go over to him and offer to play, but she didn’t want Bobbi and Hunter thinking she was immature.

“I know, sweets. But Tony would love to have a friend to play with.”

Daisy twisted her lips, hesitating. They wanted her to. And anyway, they wanted her to play with him for Tony’s enjoyment, not hers. She shrugged and hopped off of the stool, making her way over to Tony, who grinned at her. 

“What do you wanna play?” he asked.

Daisy bit her lip. “I dunno. Superheroes?” she guessed, seeing his array of action figures in bright get up. 

Tony brightened, then showed her a little Hulk action figure, which she only recognized from having every single avenger explained to her in detail by her dad. “This is th’ Hulk. He’s an Avenger. He’s super duper strong and can, like, smash bad guys,” he explained. He lifted up another one, Captain America. “This is…. Uh…” He looked up at his father, who shook his head dramatically. 

“Please don’t tell me you want to play with Captain  _ America _ ,” Hunter said in mock horror. “Captain Britain is far better.”

Daisy crinkled her nose in amusement. “Who’s Captain Britain?”

“I dunno, but he must be far better than Captain America,” Hunter joked, earning a poke from Bobbi. 

“Let him play with whatever figures he wants, Hunter.”

“He can play with whatever he wants! Just not the most… _americanest_ _american_ superhero!” He protested. “What kind of name even is that? _Captain America_ ,” he muttered. “Absolute betrayal to the UK.”

“You’re being dramatic,” Bobbi rolled her eyes. “You two can play with whichever characters you want,” She told Tony and Daisy, before shooting her husband a pointed look.

Daisy giggled. “I know about Captain America,” Daisy explained. “My dad’s obsessed with him.”

“Do y’ wanna play as him?” Tony asked.

Daisy shook her head. “Nah. I’ll play as myself.” 

"Okay. I'll be Captain then."

She looked at his toys, then pointed at a van. “And I’ll work out of that van. I’ll be a hacker.”

“Cool! Hackers are cool.”

"I know, that's why I'm going to be one, duh," Daisy explained, but then she felt a little mean, so she said, "You'd make a great Captain America."

Tony grinned. "Thanks!"

While they were playing ‘Avengers’, Bobbi got a phone call and had to leave to the kitchen to take it. Daisy didn’t really notice since Tony was going ‘ _ shoom _ ’ with Captain America, who flew through the air and then crashed down onto Daisy’s van. “Boom!” Tony giggled. “Sorry. He smashed you’s car.”

“No, come _on_ , Tony,” Daisy complained, playing up her reaction for his benefit. “That was my super-secret-spy-van! Now how am I supposed to solve crime? From a tricycle?”

Tony shrugged with a sheepish smile, then brightened. “Let’s give you superpowers then! Then you won’t need any van.”

“What kinda superpowers?” Daisy asked.

Tony squinted at her, then grinned toothily. “Super-speed. That way you can go  _ anywhere _ you want when _ ever _ .”

“Sure! But, that’s not how super-speed works. My friend Yo-yo had it and she always goes back to the spot she left.” Daisy countered.

Tony wrinkled his nose. “Tha’s not a superpower. Tha’s a…  _ not _ -superpower.”

“Creative,” Daisy remarked. “What about quakes? I could send out earthquakes and knock bad guys off their feet! _Boom-chow! Pa-pow!_ ” She made little special effects as she tickled Tony, who shrieked loudly before stopping suddenly. 

He looked behind Daisy with a curious expression. “Mommy?”

Daisy spun around to see Bobbi; her face red and splotchy. 

_ Oh no. _

“Hey, munchkin,” She said, putting a smile onto her face that uncannily reminded Daisy chillingly of the fake-smiles the sisters always put on when they explained to her why she had to leave whatever foster home she’d been kicked out of that time. 

Her stomach sank. “Um… Everything okay?” She asked nonchalantly, trying and failing to keep a tremble from her voice.

Bobbi pursed her lips together and looked up at Hunter, who had a worried expression on his face. She met Daisy’s eyes again before sighing. “I don’t know how to say this, Daisy, but…” she trailed off.

“Just say it. I can take it,” Daisy responded. It wasn’t going to be anything she hadn’t heard before.

_ You’re not seeing your parents again. _

_ They don’t want you. _

_ You’re too… loud for your own good. _

_ They said you were an ‘instigator’. _

“Your mother’s been shot. It doesn’t look good.”

_ Oh. _


End file.
